1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to an electric vehicle.
2. Discussion of the Background
There are proposed techniques of controlling the power of an air conditioner according to the relation between the output and the remaining charge of a battery (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 4-368216, 5-032121 and 8-205302).
The technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 4-368216 is intended to inhibit activation of an air conditioner from stopping a vehicle to a standstill before the vehicle reaches a goal. To achieve the intention, according to the technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 4-368216, a control unit 4 is provided with an air-conditioner output limiting unit 9 that limits the power of an electric compressor 3 when a battery remaining charge detector 8 detects that the remaining charge of the battery is equal to or less than a predetermined value, an air-conditioner output stopping unit 10 that stops the electric compressor 3, a display unit 11 that presents a display to a passenger, or an alarm unit 12 that generates a sound to give a warning to the passenger.
The technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 5-032121 is intended to provide an air conditioner designed to inhibit activation of the air conditioner in an electric vehicle from stopping the vehicle to a standstill before the vehicle reaches a goal. To achieve the intention, according to the technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 5-032121, a control unit 4 is provided with a DC current detector and a battery voltage detector 11, or the DC current detector, the battery voltage detector 11, and a power consumption calculating/detecting unit 12 to detect the power of the air conditioner, and is further provided with an air-conditioner output limiting unit 13 that reduces the number of rotations of an electric compressor when the detected power of the air conditioner exceeds an allowable value, thereby limiting the power of the air conditioner an electric compressor, and an allowance changing unit 9 that changes the allowable value according to the remaining charge of a battery.
The technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-205302 is intended to provide an air conditioning system that suppresses reduction in the running distance caused by driving an air conditioner in an electric vehicle as much as possible when the air conditioner is driven, and inhibit the activation of the air conditioner from stopping the vehicle to a standstill before the vehicle reaches a goal. To achieve the intention, according to the technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-205302, the air conditioning system is provided with a battery remaining charge detector that detects the remaining charge of a battery, and a power-consumption allowance changing unit that, when a value calculated by the battery remaining charge detector exceeds an allowable value for power consumption of the air conditioner which is determined by the remaining charge of the battery, reduces the number of rotations of an electric compressor to limit the power of the air conditioner by using an air-conditioner output control unit, and increases the number of rotations of an outdoor fan motor to change the allowable value according to the battery remaining charge.
As apparent from the above, the techniques disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 4-368216, 5-032121 and 8-205302 are based on the idea such that the power of the air conditioner (air conditioning system) is limited according to the remaining charge of the battery.